Gordon Poultney - National
Service 1976 - Internal Affairs - Mount Darwin
In January 1976 I was called up for National Service
(intake 150) with Internal Affairs
(IANS 4) so did my
basic training at Chikurubi Barracks in Salisbury. In March 1976
(a few days after my 18th birthday so I was just legal to drink
and kill!) I was posted to Mount Darwin for the remainder
of the year. I was initially sent to a relatively new Keep at
Pachanza which was on the road to Mukumbura and situated just
before the road headed around the "Bull's Nose" on the
end of the Mavuradonha Range and headed down into the valley
floor. The District Officer in charge of Pachanza was Dave
Dodds who was a great Bisley shooter so we used to have lots
of rifle practice. There was no Protected Village (PV) at
Pachanza at that time so we spent our time patrolling the area on
foot trying to gather information on the terrs and supervising
the weekly cattle dipping at the nearby tank - 1,400 head. We also had to pick
up the local Chief, Dotito, and bring him into the Keep every
evening to "protect" him from the terrs. Of course it
wasn't too long before the gooks caught onto this and were
waiting in ambush for Dave one afternoon. He got a very bad wound
in the leg and buttock and had to be cas-evac-ed to Salisbury. He
never was completely right and walked with a limp thereafter.
(The DA with him got several bullets in the chest and abdomen and
I am still amazed, to this day, that he survived too.)
One of the highlights of my stay at Pachanza was attending a
traditional beer drink and rain-making dance held by the famous
spirit medium, Parangeta, at Chief Dotito's kraal. It was quite
the experience to be in the middle of such an affair and to see
the old medium become possessed in the form of a lion, dancing on
all fours. Other notable events - the Keep got revved by terrs
with mortars and small arms twice while I was there, there were
several contacts in the area involving RLI Fire Force and
Canberra bombers after terrs had attacked villages at night and I
had close shaves with landmines on the road to Darwin. In fact
Pachanza Keep was the turn around point for the Engineers who
used the clear the road each day using the "Pookie"
landmine detection vehicle (that was AFTER I had nearly been
blown up a couple of times !) Another vivid memory was a doctor
flying in from Karanda Mission to pick up a local who had been
shot in the chest by terrs at least six times. I could hardly
believe my eyes when the old madala wandered back to his village
two weeks later !
In July 1976 I was transferred to the Kaitano Keep with two PV's,
situated West of Mukumbura along the "border" road, but
not very close to the Mozambique border itself. After a few weeks
I took over from Ant Fynn, the DO, who was moved into
Darwin HO. Whilst a lot of travel between Kaitano and Darwin was
done by planes of the ADF fleet, we did occasionally drive
through. One of my memorable trips was along the border road,
stopping to visit the Hoya Keep in the Centenary district, then
through Mazarabani and up the incredible Alpha Trail. Another one
was flying back from Darwin and "gliding" low over one
of the army O.P.'s on top of the Mavuradonha so that we could
drop them their mail and newspapers ! Then swooping down the side
of the escarpment into the valley below and game viewing along
the way. The one pilot I remember well was Russell Kilner
who often allowed us to "fly" the plane on some trips.
We saw a lot of "action" in the Kaitano area as it was
one of the major infiltration routes up to the escarpment. We had
several large Fire Force contacts around us and I still remember
the sight of 33 body bags (terrs) on our landing strip after one
day's kill. (Unfortunately that day the RAR lost one - a tracker
called Jeremy Fisher, who was actually at Plumtree a couple of
years ahead of me.) Fortunately we had no landmine incidents -
they were kept more for the "landmine alley" between
Pachanza and Darwin on the highveldt.
Of course many an hour was spent over cold chiboolies at both the
Mukumbura Surf Club and the Changamire Arms (Intaff's pub in
Darwin) with the inevitable games of Bezant. Every time I eat egg and bacon
rolls I am taken back in time to the Forces Canteen in Darwin where we would
always stop for some graze; and also to eye any "young" ladies who were
volunteering there !
Intaff Staff in the Darwin area at that time were :
Jim Latham - D.C.
Rob Walker - ADC (later DC of Kezi)
Ant Fyn - DO Kaitano and HQ
John Connelly - DO Mukumbura
Barry Mulder - (Title ?)
Andy Olver - DO Dotito & Bveke
Rob Carruthers - DO Bveke & Kaitano
Colin Bird - DO Nhembire
Pete Skott - DO Nhembire
Steve Cloete - DO Chiswite
Cameron Clarke - DO HQ
Rob Rawson - DO Chigango
Dave Dodds - DO Pachanza
Ken Tuckey - DO Horse Troop
Mike Blake - DO Chesa
Mike Bellis - Agricultural Officer
Allan Nichols - Agricultural Officer
Jim Porter - Primary Development Officer, ADF (African Development Fund)
Ian McFarlane - Field Assistant, ADF
Bill Coowie (Sp?) - Field Assistant, ADF
Geordie - Mechanic, ADF
Reg Lawson - HQ Paymaster
Daphne Whitehead, DC's Secretary
Mrs Hoad - HQ Assistant
Brenda Tuckey - HQ Assistant
In July 2005 Andy Olver (now in Australia) sent me an update to the above list
and the following details in several e-mails :
"I've just come across your web site and the section on your national
service. I was a DO in Darwin from 1974-1978 and then went to Wankie where I
joined up again with Colin Bird (now in New Zealand), Rob Walker (who went on to
Kezi from there) and Jim Porter (last saw him at Mike Bellis's farm in 1997). We
had a mini-Darwin scene going there which really pissed off the DC, Rupert
Goosen. Colin, Rob and Jim all left Wankie in about 1979 but I stayed on until
my forced retirement in early 1983 and have the dubious distinction of being the
last white District Commissioner in Africa.
Just for the Mt Darwin record, I started off in Mukers, then moved to and built
the Dotito Keep and PV and finally ended up as DO Bveke where I was responsible
for completing the construction of that Keep and for the movement of 34,000
locals into 15 PV's and the subsequent overall command of the Keeps/PV's and
some 400 men. When I think back on it, it was quite amazing as I was only 24
years old and really thought nothing of the responsibility.
As for news of the above, the last I heard, Ant Fyn was farming in Macheke
(1997), Mike Bellis was farming in Marondera (1997), Jim Porter was in Harare
(1997), Ken Tuckey migrated to New Zealand in the mid-1980's, I migrated to
Australia in 1983, Colin Bird migrated to New Zealand last year (2004) but until
then was in Chiredzi, Rob Carruthers was KIA near Kaitano in 1978 (just after
he, Ant Fyn and I had returned from a holiday in Argentina), and as for the
rest, I don't know what they're up to. The last time I saw Jim Latham (1983) he
was farming in Mazoe.
Do you remember Bill Coowie's dog, Bongo? Bongo died one night while we were in
Mt Darwin. I think it was from alcohol poisoning. Bill used to give Bongo a
saucer of Cane Spirits every now and then and quite often they'd both get pissed
together. If you asked Bill about the scar on his lip he'd say "I was talking
when I should have been listening".
In fact most of us had dogs - Rastus (me), Miss Murgatroyd Mugwump (Pete Skott),
Chief (Mike Bellis), Bruce (Jim Porter), Robble (Colin Bird), Bongo (Bill Coowie),
Dave Dodds (Tanu) and there were a couple of others. Ken Tuckey's bull terrier
(forgot its name), was the mother of Rastus and Mugwump. I've mentioned Pete
Skott. He was another DO (from Denmark) who spent most of his time at Nhembire
with Colin Bird. A loveable bloke and the brunt of quite a few of our jokes. I
remember popping in to Nhembire for a chat and a cold beer but the beer was warm
because Pete didn't know how to light his paraffin fridge, and for 2 weeks he'd
done nothing about it. One winter's night at Bveke, after lights out, we got
mortared. I grabbed my rifle, webbing a shirt and dashed into a bunker to find
Pete Skott sitting there starkers with a cool box and a beer in his hand, but no
rifle to be seen anywhere. At least he got his priorities right.
The old paymaster was Reg Lawson. Had all sorts of German military paraphernalia
in his office. Also, were you there when Lionel Dyke (Senior DO, ex RAR &
sometimes wore a monicle) was there? Lionel went back to the army and ended up
as Colonel in charge of 6th Brigade in the Zimbabwe National Army. He's now into
de-mining.
The woman who worked in HQ was Mrs Hoad, & her son (I forget his name) also
worked as a Field Assistant for a short time. Latham's secretary was Daphne
Whitehead. And of course Brenda Tuckey also worked in the DC's Office. In fact,
I was a friend of Brenda's from Bulawayo before she married Ken (when she was
Brenda de Goviea). Ken's and my parents knew each other from Bulawayo. My old
man played cricket for Rhodesia and captained Matabeleland rugby."
If anybody has any other news of any of these
individuals, anecdotes about time in Darwin or photos to add to the gallery I would be pleased to have
them to add to this page.
Related web pages :
Rhodesian
Roll of Honour
Chas
Lotter's Echoes of an African War